Every year the American news magazine Time decides who will receive its Person of the Year award.

The award is decided as a result of consideration of who had the most significant effects on global events that year. And as such, it has had many historically villainous characters winning the competition, as well as heroic individuals.

Interestingly, it’s not just humans who have won the award, as ‘the endangered Earth’ won in 1988, and the award was also claimed by ’the computer’ in 1982 in a move that presaged the arrival of digital technologies and online betting sites as a big influence in the consideration of who would win the Person of the Year accolade.

 

American politics

As the majority of American presidents have been granted the prestigious title, it’s widely expected that we’ll see another political heavyweight claim the prize in 2016.

Ahead of the presidential elections later this year, candidates such as Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio and the outspoken Donald Trump are all amongst the front-runners for this coveted award. However, it’s also worth noting that the left-wing Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders was the winner of the Reader’s Poll in 2015 which could make him a serious contender later this year.

 

Global events

However, with the migrant crisis and Syrian war dominating the headlines, we could see the potential for a selection that mirrors this increasingly volatile global situation – particularly as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel won the award last year as a result of her compassionate action towards political refugees.

As a result it’s a valid question to ask whether ‘the American solider’ could once again win the title as previously won during the Iraq War in 2003.

With the bets looking likely that this could happen, many people will ask if they can get betting sites’ special offers on Twitter? Thankfully Betway feature the Time magazine poll amongst their range of specialist betting options, and their social media output is constantly updated with all of the latest news, events and tips from politics to sport and beyond.

 

UK influence

Interestingly only one British individual has won the coveted accolade, with Winston Churchill being declared Person of the Year in both 1940 and 1949. And this year there’s only the slightest chance that David Cameron or Jeremy Corbyn will really trouble the betting sites.

But with the Drummond Puddle currently being ranked as a 5000/1 outsider, it hints that just about anything could happen in this controversial competition.